I'm not sure if you are still looking for advice, but I have experience with it... My 8 yr old stayed in the
bed with me (and hubby) since day 1, when I got pregnant with my second when he was 16 mths old, we set up his room with a toddler
bed (he could get out of his playpen since 9 mths un-assisted, and never had a crib) so we made sure it was fun and playful and gave him that
option, we also set up a separate cot beside out
bed, so he could be with us still (I was not comfortable being pregnant with a toddler and hubby in
bed then, knowing I would have a baby soon) since I was pregnant I was able to talk about it to him and explain why he was going to have to one day move to his own
bed (in our room or his) by the time I had the baby he was starting the nights in his own
bed and if he woke up he would come into his cot beside our
bed... I
let him continue like that as long as he wanted, it took time but I did not push him at all, same with breast feeding I
let him make the choice... when I left my hubby (now ex) the boys were both big enough (2 and 4 yrs) for me to be comfortable with them both in
bed with me, and I was still nursing my younger one until he was around 3.5 yrs old, so we just had a big
bed with us all piled in, I miss those days so much: (so how did I finally get them both out of my
bed?
Their rules were very black and white and the nurses
let us know that there was not an
option to not have an iv and once your water broke you would be in
bed, on your back, with constant monitoring.